The Theravada Studies Group (TSG) announces a new academic forum dedicated to the study of Theravada Buddhist traditions. The group will promote comparative and scholarly exchanges among social scientists and humanists who work on aspects of Theravada Buddhism in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Southwest China and globally though pilgrimage and diaspora networks.

The Theravada Studies Group will hold an initial planning meeting at the AAS in San Diego at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, Del Mar A/B room, 1- 2:30 pm, on Saturday, March 23, 2013. The Theravada Studies Group will meet annually in conjunction with the AAS in order to promote comparative work on the religious, cultural and historical aspects and encourage the submission of proposals for AAS panels. Please plan to attend and share this announcement with interested colleagues.

Membership in the Theravada Studies Group is free. A password protected website (http://theravadaciv.org) is under development with support from the Henry Luce Foundation. Subscribers may consult this site for further information, access resources, and maintain academic profiles (email: info@theravadaciv.org). To access this site, members must register and establish a profile (click the red “Login or Register” button at the upper right to get started).